Tony Cane

Tony Cane, a self-made businessman, told Channel 4 News: “I just gradually became more affected and inspired by (Margaret Thatcher’s) philosophy, that you can do whatever you want to do, regardless of your background.

He said the Conservative leader had “laid the ground for opportunity”.

“Whilst I like to think that, obviously, my own abilities took me from A to B and to C – and, indeed, to D – she certainly made a valued contribution to that.”

Doreen McNally

The wife of a Liverpool docker, Doreen McNally told Channel 4 News that Margaret Thatcher had “kicked the life out of working people because there was no work there – and people want to work”.

She concluded that the Tory leader had a lot to answer for: “She left her mark on an era – not a good one.”

Khalid Aziz

Businessman Khalid Aziz started out as a BBC journalist, but was inspired by Margaret Thatcher to set up his own communications company.

He told Channel 4 News: “Margaret Thatcher came in and said: ‘You know what? If you want to better yourselves, then it’s down to you.’

“You felt as if there was a world out there. There was a glittering prize to reach for and pluck.”

He said the Thatcher legacy was to show the British people “that there was another way of creating prosperity”.

Dave Douglass

The former Durham miner told Channel 4 News that everything Margaret Thatcher stood for was alien to what miners and their communities stood for.

“The only reason people lived in these (mining) villages is because there was a mine there,” he said.

“While I wouldn’t wish death on anybody, even on Maggie Thatcher, don’t expect me to shed any tears for her – ’cause she’s made me shed enough over the loss of our own communities.”